Red is a very popular color in modern China. Chinese physics taught, that the five elements are water, fire, wood, metal, and earth; they correspond to black, red, blue-green, white, and yellow. Ancient Chinese believed that the five elements made everything. During the reign of Huang Di, five thousand years ago people actually worshiped the color yellow. Chin-ese still regard black, red, blue-green, white, and yellow as standard colors.
The book of changes regards black as Heaven’s color. The saying of “heaven and earth of mysterious black” is rooted in observations in the nights sky. White represented gold and symbolized brightness, purity, and fulfillment. White is also the color associated with the mourning.
Both modern and ancient Chinese like the color red. Red is everywhere during the holidays, like Chinese New Year; it symbolizes good fortune and joy. Since the Communist takeover of China, red has been used to represent danger, blood, violence, and radical actions by Chinese Communist Party.
Blue-green represents spring, when everything overflows with vigor and vitality. Yellow symbolizes the earth. The saying “Yellow generates Yin and Yang” means that yellow is the center of every thing. There are silk goods and ancient tombs with the colors brown, red, black, purple, and yellow. These same colors are still used with pottery. Ancient Chinese be-lieve that color feeds the spirit and expresses the depth of human experience.
